


Blood Gold

by Axel_error



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, POV change between Ryou and Yami, only slight shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axel_error/pseuds/Axel_error
Summary: Ryou's life has been falling apart since the millennium ring fell into his hands all those years ago. With the Pharaoh too busy chasing after his elusive memories to notice anything else, Ryou unwittingly falls into place. A pawn in a game that started long before he was born. As shadows of the past seep into Ryou's present, he starts to piece together a truth that will rock the foundation of everything the Pharaoh holds dear.
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Thief King Bakura
Kudos: 10





	1. -Ryou- Names

**Author's Note:**

> This fic changes perspective each chapter from Ryou to Yami/Atem. I'm putting it in each chapters title so its not too confusing.

The wooden door creaked as his hands pushed against it and Ryou winced. It was never unlocked, but this time Ryou had taken a wooden chair to the door handle and left the metal in ruins. The empty, dark hallway was cool enough to make him get goosebumps, but heat radiated from the only feature he could see beyond his doorway. Another, slightly ajar, door at least twice his height and made of stone at the end of the hall. The closer Ryou got to it, the more intense the heat became. He tried to look between the door and the frame, but the other side was too dark to see. Ryou barely squeezed himself through the opening. The feel of the cool stones was a temporary solace against the sweltering heat of the room and left him with the grainy feel of sand on his skin.

Light poured in through a hole in the roof where cracked and chipped stone bricks would have merged to a point. The busted roof gave just enough light to the altar and raised platform at the edge of the large room for Ryou to see the glint of gold and gemstones littered across the edges of the platform. The closer to the walls his view traveled the more the shadows painted figures in similar shades of dark hues, and the harder it was to make out separate objects. The altar wall was different somehow, he squinted and could barely see the difference in texture, but his curiosity had him moving. He kept as close to the walls as he could and blindly tried not to rattle the loose stones he stepped on, even if the effort was in vain.

Hieroglyphs in cartouche’s spread out over the expanse of the stone. A wall of names. A shard of memory slipped through his mind of his father. He was almost glad his father wasn’t here to experience what his ‘gift’ could really do. He was almost all the way across the room when he suddenly stopped. A flash of red caught his eye as a shadow, once near the wall, was now close enough to the light for Ryou to make out his long red coat and white hair. The shadow wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at the wall, but his body was half turned as if he were leaving. Ryou’s blood ran cold as he silently wished that he was invisible. The white hair shifted as the strangers’ head turned in Ryou’s direction.

Ryou saw nothing.

Ryou Bakura wasn’t usually the type of person to have nightmares. He loved watching horror movies and reading macabre stories and was always just fine. Recently, much has changed. Maybe its because he’s been more on edge since pieces of his memory have gone missing. Maybe its because of the devastation of learning that he was indirectly at fault for the mysterious comas and disappearances that followed him for so many years. Whatever the case was, he was wary of the spirit that dwelled in the ring, and his growing paranoia at being helpless to stop it was only matched by his obsession with finding out as much as he could about the supernatural items. He found solace in the fact that his experiences weren’t entirely unique to him, although Yugi’s spirit seemed far less sadistic and ruthless.

Ryou was drawing out a new board for Monster World when Yugi walked into class with Joey. Ryou only caught a few muffled words before they got through the doorway. Yugi turned to look at Ryou first. Ryou froze as if he were caught stealing.

“Oh hey Bakura,” Yugi said “You’re here early, what’re you doing?” The morning sunlight hit the puzzle around Yugi’s neck and caught Ryou’s eye the way a shiny metal hook would attract the curiosity of unwitting fish. As Yugi made his way to Ryou’s desk to see what he was leaning over Ryou felt an odd sense of dread.

“You know, I’m just planning a new Monster World game,” Ryou said as he fidgeted with his pen.

“It looks like it’s mostly desert territory,” Joey said, squinting at the loose sketches.

“Yeah, I was thinking of an ancient Egypt themed game,” Ryou confessed. He felt like he was saying something he shouldn’t, but the reason why had escaped his mind. Instead, his mind slipped back to the dark pyramid with an open roof.

“Ah,” Yugi looked surprised and shifted, “that sounds pretty fun!” His face said one thing but Ryou couldn’t help but hear the tilt of apprehension in his voice. But why wouldn’t he be nervous? Cautious? On edge? After what happened the last time. It wasn’t really Ryou’s fault, but that didn’t change the outcome. They narrowly won, through sheer force of will, and no one wanted to relive it.

A clique of girls walked into the room followed shortly by the teacher and Yugi took it as a que to wander over to his seat with Joey following suit. A pit of uneasiness settled in Ryou’s stomach as he sluggishly drug himself through his classes and watched the clock.


	2. -Yami- Lost

The sound of shuffling cards was the only thing heard in the room as Yami built and deconstructed his deck, mentally preparing for future duels. It was all he could do to ignore his racing mind.

Or at least attempt to.

The solid hardwood floor beneath him was starting to get uncomfortable no matter how he shifted his weight and taking off his school blazer had only marginally helped the muggy summer heat that made the air as thick as soup. Yami huffed, giving up on his endeavor and wiping his brow with the inside of his wrist. He was pretty sure he looked like the side of a once-cold can in the sun thanks to the air conditioner breaking. Again.

Despite the wretched weather, Yami couldn’t sit still. While pacing the room and running his fingertips over the puzzle was somewhat calming, it wasn’t going to stop his mind from wandering. He was desperate to pull his broken memories together into a coherent whole. Scrambling for any leads and rushing to find answers. In the time between the chase, he was restless, a hollowed part of himself waiting for the next fruitless sign.

The Millennium Puzzle was both soothing and agitating. Its familiarity and weight helped to ground Yami. To keep him from floating away in the sea of his mind. The puzzle was also a key. The key to his soul, his memories. The answer was so close, he just needed to find out how to use it.

Yami felt relief when the phone rang. He picked it up in the hopes that Yugi would want to take over, but his mind was silent when he heard the voice on the line speak.

“Hey,” the bad reception gave an odd crackling noise to Ryou’s voice, “is this Yugi?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Yami said. He knew his words sounded a bit off but Ryou had never called him, not before today, and he couldn’t help but feel like the whole situation was fundamentally odd.

“I need to talk to you,” Ryou said, “alone.” Yami went still as uneasiness gathered his stomach into a knot. The only word his mind could form was a question.

“Why?” Yami said.

“I just…need to,” Ryou said. Yami’s head was almost spinning with the thoughts and memories that flooded in, but nothing had ever stopped him before. If anyone was in mortal danger from the spirit in the ring, it would be Ryou.

This he could do.

“I’m coming over. Now,” Yami said.


	3. -Ryou- Truth

When Ryou opened the door, he couldn’t stop himself from noticing how tense Yami seemed. His normal confident stance, having his feet slightly apart and arms crossed, only half hid his stiff back and serious expression. Yami seemed like he was searching Ryou’s face for something he couldn’t seem to find before Ryou tried to give a smile he hoped was assuring. Ryou knew Yami’s stress was mostly his fault, so he tried to be as welcoming as possible, letting him in and guiding him to the sparsely furnished living room.

“Give me just a second, I’ll go make us some tea.” Ryou said, smiling again for good measure before hurrying to the kitchen. Ryou mindlessly went through the motions of setting the tray while trying not to unnerve himself by thinking too much. He hyper focused on not spilling anything, gripping the silver tray tightly as he walked. He only looked up once he heard the klink of the tray meeting the glass tabletop. Yami’s head turned to look at Ryou and Ryou followed where Yami’s gaze had been. A small worn-down table against the wall with more empty space than picture frames.

“Oh, those are just old class photos,” Ryou said feeling a bit of heat run to his face. He didn’t own as many photos as he could vaguely remember having as a kid, but he had moved so many times at this point he wasn’t surprised he had lost most of them.

“Ah,” Yami said, casually, as if it was normal to have a table of photos of yourself. Ryou supposed that Yami wouldn’t really know what was and wasn’t normal for people of the modern day and was grateful for either his cluelessness or indifference. Yami sat down on the couch a cushion away from Ryou, as he eyed the tray on the table.

“Here, have some its really good!” Ryou said, filling a cup with steaming tea from the kettle. He eyeballed the busted corner of the glass tabletop, held together with packing tape, and hoped it would continue to stay strong. He gambled with his luck by placing the full cup closer to Yami and internally cheered when the table didn’t collapse.

“Thank you,” Yami said, “What is it that you wanted to talk about?” Ryou fidgeted and heard a high-pitched ding when part of the millennium ring tapped against his ceramic cup.

“You don’t have to talk to the other Yugi about this,” Ryou paused, “In fact, I would prefer it if you didn’t.” Yami shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable by the request to keep a secret from his host. Or was it ‘partner’? Ryou was pretty sure that they saw each other as friends and had heard one of them say something along those lines.

“Alright,” Yami said, seeming to comply. Ryou wondered if it was out of curiosity or if Yami had really cared about Ryou’s request.

“I have been having dreams, consistently, they’re all the same,” Ryou confessed, his words tumbling out more haphazardly than he had intended, “ I’ve seen a pyramid, and hieroglyphs, and a man wearing red.” Yami’s brow creased as he listened to Ryou speak, “I think… it might be connected to the ring somehow.” Now it was Ryou’s turn to search Yami’s face for a reaction, any recognition, “Are your memories and the millennium puzzle connected?”

Yami looked shaken, sick even. He must have saw the path of reasoning Ryou was following, and he wasn’t very good at hiding his emotions. It didn’t matter what he said anymore, Ryou already knew.

“I don’t know,” Yami said.

“Do you think,” Ryou measured his next words carefully, pressing his fingers tighter against the mug in his hands, “that the spirit in the ring knew you?” It was another test.

“I… can’t remember,” Yami sighed. That wasn’t the question.

They both knew the real answer, but Ryou hummed anyway, accepting Yami’s response. That’s how they were different. Yami could feign ignorant bliss without his memories; Ryou couldn’t afford to. Not while constantly being pulled around on the spirits whim, wherever his goal of finding the millennium items took him.

Ryou was able to dig for knowledge in the meantime and found some solid information. One, the millennium objects are incredibly powerful, and not to be fucked with. You could never tell Ryou not to play with fire, however, he would only mess with it more. Two, the item must ‘allow’ someone to wield it, if not the item will either tear them apart or kill them, this goes back to point one. Pegasus and Marik blinked across Ryou’s mind as unfortunate examples of how the items twisted and splintered the psyche of those ‘unworthy’. Three, there are only two items that house sentient spirits inside of them, both seem to come from ancient Egypt, and one of those two is sitting in his living room on the other side of his couch.

Ryou was about halfway through his tea when he asked his next question.

“Why do you want your memories?” Ryou placed his mug on the table, “What if what your life was like… isn’t what you thought?” Yami looked like he was considering the question as he mirrored Ryou by carefully setting his mug on the table.

“I guess I will just have to deal with that if it happens,” Yami said. Ryou saw the determination burning in Yami’s eyes. A glass bullet headed straight for a solid stone wall.

Ryou wondered if it was supposed to be comforting. The reckless hunt for truth combined with chosen ignorance could only end in disaster. It made Ryou uneasy and his mind crept back to the blistering heat and sandy altar. The names.

“I guess so,” Ryou conceded.


	4. -Yami- Respite

He was glad for a bit of reprieve, still reeling a bit after Yugi’s sorrow at Yami’s refusal to tell him what happened at Ryou’s. He very much wanted to.

He leaned against the hard stone wall of his false soul room, his real one hidden far from him. The room wasn’t a pyramid. It wasn’t stable in the slightest. It was an ever-shifting stone maze. He wondered if the Millennium Puzzle was what caused his memory to be split and his true soul room to be swept away. Or was it something greater, something far worse? What had happened?

Now he knew that the spirit in the ring, Bakura, had memories, fragments at least. Ryou was dreaming of pyramids and hieroglyphs and was right to assume the spirit was the source. Was his soul room intact and stable? How were his memories leaching into Ryou’s dreams, so much so that Ryou wanted to ask Yami about them? Who was the man in red?

The conversation was a blade slipped under Yami’s skin he couldn’t dig out. Ryou was searching for answers he didn’t have. Asking questions pushed the blade in deeper but Yami couldn’t stop combing through the scant memories he had for an explanation.

Bakura knew that Yami was a pharaoh, but he didn’t know that he was in the puzzle. Not until the Monster World shadow game. Which means that Bakura must not be whole, or at least wasn’t before. His memories seemed to be returning though and Ryou was trapped in the midst of it. There was nothing Yami could do to help him.

Yami wished he could ask Bakura how he managed to rebuild what he had lost. What would that mean for Yugi though? Would he be able to see Yami’s memories? The thought made Yami uneasy, but he didn’t know why. Bakura would never tell Yami anything though, not unless he got something out of it. Yami had nothing to give.

He ran his fingers over the grooves and edges of the puzzle and thought about what it would mean.

If Bakura remembered him.


End file.
